Colorado dusky grouse season 2026-27: dates, units and bag limits

Dusky grouse is open in Colorado from September 1, 2026 to November 22, 2026, west of I-25. This page has the 2026-27 dates, the daily bag and possession limits, the licences you need and the rules that apply, read from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife brochure.

2026-27 season dates and limits

Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise to sunset.

Units we can plan for dusky grouse

The legal area is as the brochure words it in the table above. These are the units inside it that our maps cover: a unit missing from a list may still be open, so check the brochure.

Dusky grouse season: west of I-25

111 units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 131, 161, 171, 181, 191, 201, 211, 214, 231, 301, 361, 371, 411, 421, 431, 441, 444, 471, 481, 500, 501, 521, 551, 561, 581, 681, 682, 691, 711, 741, 751, 771, 791, 861.

Units that I-25 runs through or beside are left out until the line is mapped.

Licences and stamps

• Colorado small game licence
• Colorado Habitat Stamp
• Harvest Information Program (HIP) number for this season

Rules for dusky grouse

• Shotgun (10 gauge or smaller, no slugs, three shells at most), bow or crossbow. A rifle, handgun, air gun or slingshot is also legal for dusky grouse.
• West of I-25 during the regular rifle deer and elk seasons, no centerfire rifle larger than .23 calibre for small game unless you hold an unfilled deer or elk licence for that season.
• Keep one fully feathered wing or the head on each bird until you are home.
• Grouse hunting is prohibited on the Upper Baldy Unit of Garfield Creek State Wildlife Area.
• Orange or pink is not required for small game, but big game seasons are open around you. Wear it.

Do not mistake these for dusky grouse

• Greater sage-grouse (different season or permit): Much larger, with a long pointed tail and a dark belly, in sagebrush. A dusky grouse has a square dark tail with a pale grey band at the tip. Sage-grouse are open only 12 to 18 September in listed units, with a permit.
• Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (different season or permit): Smaller and pale, with a short pointed tail that shows white at the sides. Open only 1 to 20 September in ten north-west units, with a permit.
• White-tailed ptarmigan (different season or permit): Far smaller, with white wings and a white tail, at and above treeline. It needs its own permit.
• Gunnison sage-grouse (protected or closed: never shoot): A sage-grouse in the Gunnison Basin and south-west Colorado. No season anywhere. Do not shoot any sage-grouse there.

How to hunt dusky grouse

• Walk edges where feeding cover meets timber, meadow rims, aspen-to-conifer lines, ridge saddles, berry slopes with timber below. Old logging roads and trails are where birds come for grit and dust.
• Stop often. A pause makes a hidden bird flush. A flushed bird often flies up into a tree and sits.
• Know what is behind a treed or low bird.
• Cool the bird quickly on warm September days.

What a map cannot tell you

• The land cover map does not show berries, and the planner has no measure of this year's feed.
• No study gave a daily timing, a flush distance or a road-avoidance distance for dusky grouse.
• Units beside I-25 are not offered until the line is mapped.

Source

2026 Colorado Small Game & Waterfowl brochure (corrections 21 Aug 2026), pages 4, 5, 7 and 10: https://cpw.widen.net/s/bklvf2bjmw/colorado-small-game--waterfowl-brochure. Read October 2, 2026. Rules change every year, and corrections are issued during the season: read the current brochure before you hunt.